Several aspects of information flows in PLM

Abstract

There are lots of activities in the product lifecycle, which are grouped into three main phases: beginning of life (BOL), middle of life (MOL), and end of life (EOL). Thanks to recent emerging technologies, information flows of whole product lifecycle can be visible and controllable. The PLM under this environment allows all actors of the whole product lifecycle to access, manage, and control information flows. These flows can be used to streamline several operations of BOL, MOL and EOL. In order to recognize the benefit of these information flows, first of all, it is necessary to comprehend them in detail. For this purpose, this study will deal with several aspects of information flows in PLM. It will clarify the concept of information flows and identify which product lifecycle information are required for streamlining lifecycle operations, and classify them into several types depending on their characteristics. © 2012 International Federation for Information Processing.